Joey Logano has seen both young and veteran drivers left without a ride as part of the musical chairs that always seems to be in play in the Sprint Cup garage.

And yet he always believed he would drive a competitive Sprint Cup car again in 2013.

Logano, who is being replaced by veteran Matt Kenseth at Joe Gibbs Racing after this season, had more than faith. He was only 18 years old when he made his Cup debut and still is considered young at 22. His resume includes 15 Nationwide Series wins as well as his second Cup win this year at Pocono Raceway.

And when Penske Racing went looking for a new driver, Logano had Penske driver Brad Keselowski in his corner.

Dating back to last December when the No. 22 Penske ride was available, Keselowski urged his superiors to consider Logano. They did, and although it didn’t work out last December, Logano will be Keselowski’s new teammate for 2013 and beyond as part of a new multiyear deal announced Tuesday.

“Brad had come to us last year and mentioned Joey’s name and felt that he was certainly somebody that he could work well with,” Penske Racing president Tim Cindric said Wednesday. “That chemistry is so important to not only have the crew chiefs and the guys to work together but also have the drivers that can communicate off the track.

“They need to be the ones helping the team go forward together rather than forcing the people internally to pick a side. It needs to be Penske Racing and once they get on the racetrack, they can sort out who wins the race.”

Penske hired AJ Allmendinger for 2012 but when Allmendinger failed a NASCAR drug test and was eventually fired in July, Cindric and Keselowski already had Logano on their minds.

“How involved Brad is in the day-to-day stuff here at Penske is awesome,” Logano said.

“I love to be as involved as he is and work together. He was pretty involved in getting me here, for sure, as I think he is with most of the decisions that happen here at Penske.”

Cindric said Logano is “the right fit” for Penske and believes he could blossom just as Keselowski did since coming to the organization in 2009. Keselowski has made the Chase and won eight races in the last two years with Penske. Logano, who is in his fourth year of full-time Cup racing, has never made the Chase.

“You look at the statistics for sure,” Cindric said. “The fact that Joey has won at the Cup level is a big help. When you look at his statistics and you compare them to guys like Brad who are moving up and have similar experience levels, Brad has hit his stride in a lot of ways and we feel like Joey has a similar potential for progression in our environment.

“We’ve been able to prove that both cars are capable of winning. We did that last year, and we think we can continue to do that.”

Keselowski and Logano give Penske Racing two drivers under 30 years old, and Cindric said he briefly tried to get Logano last year.

“I had approached (JGR president) J.D. Gibbs last year when we were looking to hire a driver for the 22. … His response to me was that he wanted to do whatever he could to keep Joey in the fold long-term,” Cindric said.

“He saw Joey at that time as the youth in the organization and wanted to be able to find a place for him. I still believe that that’s true. It just didn’t work out.”

JGR offered Logano a full-time Nationwide ride with a part-time Cup schedule for 2013 with the idea that he would return to Cup full time in 2014.

But Logano felt he deserved another full-time Cup ride now. He wasn’t surprised he had to look for work for 2013. He had heard the rumors that he might be replaced by Carl Edwards last year. But he also felt that if he performed, he would get another chance.

“You could kind of seeing it coming,” Logano said. “There’s rumors about it for the last few years. … Did it cross my mind (I wouldn’t get a ride)? It may have once, but really I was always fairly confident that for sure something was going to come out in a competitive Cup car.”